California Goldminer Sourdough Bread

Project: Arizona Brand Campaign

When was the last time you saw great advertising done for a loaf of bread? This category needed a shot in the arm. That was our goal.

– Tom

For California Goldminer Sourdough, we were given a simple task. Launch a completely unknown sourdough bread, with a budget that would hardly cover a lunch meeting at Pepperidge Farm. And do it in Arizona, not exactly a sourdough stronghold.

Goldminer Sourdough is based on a 120-year-old recipe, and still uses the original sourdough starter. We had the quality. The tradition. The goldminers who look like extras from Blazing Saddles.

Personality aside, one unique thing about Goldminer is that it’s actually baked fresh daily, right in the store. So consumers won’t find it in the bread aisle—it’s in the bakery section. Our attention-grabbing outdoor campaign, strategically positioned near grocery stores, created awareness. Once we had people in the store, hang tags directed folks out of the bread aisle to the bakery section, where another floor talker welcomed them.

A digital campaign extended the message online. And our social strategy brought it all home.

Would our unknown brand get into the hearts and minds—and more importantly, the shopping carts—of Arizonans?

The answer was a resounding yes, as year-over-year same-store sales jumped 17%.

Outdoor

Point of Purchase

Media

20M

Our media campaign delivered over 20 million impressions in the Phoenix market over the course of three months.

13%

By the end, sales were up, year-over-year, by 13% overall—up by 20% at Fry’s Supermarkets alone.

7.9%

Household penetration was up 7.9%, year over year.

24%

The campaign drew 24% new users, either by migrating folks from other brands or by introducing them to sourdough, a crucial result to track in the habit-driven CPG world.

Social

On the social side, Facebook likes grew from 500 likes to nearly 20,000. And these weren’t just purchased likes—our content strategy brought in real fans, who are now active in a robust new digital community.